


Wishing Wells

by ChronicallyOwlish



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Ficlet, Friendship, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Mini Fic, Prompt Fill, Wishing, post Season 1 finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2019-05-01 03:07:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14511207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChronicallyOwlish/pseuds/ChronicallyOwlish
Summary: Hugh believed in wishing wells, but Paul isn't so sure.





	Wishing Wells

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prompt fill from the daily fanfiction prompts on Reddit's /r/fanfiction.

“Hugh believed in magic,” Paul says as Tilly steps beside him.

He’s standing before a fountain two blocks from Starfleet Headquarters, Paris. In a city bursting with art and culture, it isn’t spectacular. Just a wide pond of tile with three ornate basins stacked on top of each other. Water bubbles from the smallest on top, filling it to overflowing, creating a cascade effect. Hundreds of coins are scattered across the bottom, catching the light of the street lamps and sparkling in shades of copper, silver, and gold.

Gold like the medal he clutches tightly in his hand. It should be around Hugh’s neck. He should be here tonight. The air is warm and sweet and a street-corner band plays traditional Parisian music. It’s exactly the kind of beautiful, storybook night Hugh loved.

Tilly remains silent.

“Not fairies and witches or anything like that. Small things, like throwing pennies into a wishing well.”

He sees her face in profile. She’s calm. Thoughtful. Strange how he now considers her a friend. Hugh liked Tilly from day one. Said he’d grow to like her too. It was always that way. Paul is lost. How is he supposed to go on without his compass and conscience?

“My grandmother taught me about wishing wells when I was little.” No unnecessary exposition. Since he woke from his coma to find his entire world shattered, she’s been a solid listener and a good friend.

“On our third or fourth date, Hugh convinced me to toss a coin into a well. I told him he was being ridiculous—We were men of science, what use did we have for wishing? But I did it anyway; I tossed a penny in and wished he’d stay with me. For a while after, I believed in magic too.”

The band strikes up another song: sad with notes that press his heart. Tilly touches his arm but doesn’t linger, as if she isn’t certain about this change in their relationship either.

“But you don’t anymore?”

“How can I?”

She produces a copper coin and holds it in front of him. “It’s my lucky penny; my grandmother gave it to me. I think you might need it now more than me.”

After he takes it, she walks away. Taking a deep breath, he throws it in because he has a need for wishes now.

_Please, Hugh. Please come back to me._

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt was: Your character believes in magic! Or maybe they don’t and have a pretty good reason why. Show us what your character believes or doesn’t believe. (400 Words)


End file.
